Sarah Bush No Public Input on Board Selection

I got a letter from a concerned citizen of Coles County about the lack of public input on the selection of new Sarah Bush Health Foundation Board of Directors.

They likely are perfectly within their rights to do it this way, but it shows a lack of respect for the general public that pays the bill through huge fees, taxes, and tax deductable donations. Any institution getting public funds should be required to be open to the public about their activities. 

When asked to be more open to the public SBLHC will quickly tell us they are a private non-profit business and are not required to disclose "didily squat" except the financial report required by the US government which is a year and a half old before we see it. We only get the official "spin" from the organization.

Non-profit private hospitals have a perfect autocratic system protected by law where they got the power to operate like a benevolent foreign dictator in absolute secrecy, charge what the controled market will bear for their services, and control the media. The public is so intimidated by this system, they are afraid to speak out publicly for fear of losing their doctor or other retaliation.

We see the fruits of this system.....health care that takes almost 20% of the GNP, few choices in healthcare, poor quality, a system that kills 100s of thousands.

Joel Fuhrman, MD, PBS Lecture

Science Confirms Creator's Design

I heard Dr. Fuhrman give a talk last night on a Public Broadcasting System (PBS) fund raiser last night.
He spoke of how modern  science has found the greatest power for healing is found in food properly grown and consumed.

In 1930s when it was discovered that the vitamin and minerals in food were important to health, and companies started to produce and promote these artifically on a grand scale.  To this very day in 2012, most health care providers and the general public thinks these are the main nutrients in food beside the carbohydrates, fats, and proteins. 

He points out there are 1,000s of micro nutrients only found in food (not vitamins pills) which are essential to optimum health and prevention of disease. He speaks of how nature has placed these there for our healing.

I am not certain of Dr. Fuhrman's religious beliefs, but I get from his talk he believes in intelligent design by God. We must

Letter to Editor-Nonprofit Status Betters Service-Reply

Today there was a letter to the editor in the JG-TC entitled "Nonprofit status betters service".  The writer makes an excellent point and it is a point of view held by the public in general. I will attempt to reply.

The big problem with Sarah Bush is that the public does not really know for sure what is going on because SBLHS operates in a cloak of secrecy.  When the writer says, "I suspect" she is correct because that is all she can do. She cannot give input or view the business matters of the organization.

No organization should receive tax dollars without disclosure to the public and input from the public.  As they will tell you, the SBLHS boards do not represent the public nor are they accountable to the public. 

This is a violation of the basic principle under which our system of government was established...no taxation without representation.  

I would love to see a public debate on this subject. I appreciate the writer's letter.

Dr. Don Selvidge
dslvdg@aol.com

Sarah Bush Legal Price-Fixing Increases Costs

In a free market economy, the government has rightly made it illegal for businesses to ban together to "fix" prices. A group of gas stations, dentists, stores cannot have a meeting and decide to set a certain price for their goods or services to consumers. 

Price fixing kills a business's incentive to keep their prices low, produce a better quality product, and give better service. It holds the consumer hostage to whatever price the merchant feels like charging and encourages price gouging.

Private non-profit hospitals and healthcare systems have over the past twenty years gradually positioned themselves so they can price-fix and do it legally.  Instead of having their physicians work in independent offices, they have gone to hiring them as employees. They then set or "fix" the fees that each of these doctors charge.

Gives Ability to Set Prices Without Market Controls

In the case with Sarah Bush Lincoln Healthcare Systems, the 145 or so doctors on their payroll represent a vast majority of physicians in the area.  Few independent offices remain. This gives them the ability to set prices at whatever level they please without any free market controls.

Since SBLHS has such almost absolute control over the fees charged and other variables, the consumer cannot shop around for a lower fee, higher quality, or better service provider. This organization has gained near absolute control over our area's healthcare.

Practice is Legal But Anti-Consumer and Anti-Free Market

While this arrangement at Sarah Bush is perfectly legal, it is still anti-consumer and anti-free market.  It has the very same bad effect and worse as the illegal price fixing.

Since SBLHS as a private non-profit is able to operate in secrecy, it was able to do this over the years without the public knowing exactly what they were doing. Had the public known the full implications of these actions, it surely would have been stopped.  Now it is well established practice and would be difficult to change.

A Lesson Should Be Learned

A lesson should be learned here.  The public must insist that SBLHS open its board meetings, publish the minutes, and have current financial disclosure. If we don't, we will pay dearly in the future in higher costs, decreased quality and choice, and in consumer service.

Dr. Don Selvidge

Action for Affordable Healthcare (aah)

  

 

Top-Down Autocratic Management Out of Style

Top-Down, Autocratic Management Out of Style

The world witnessed an unexpected and amazing phenomenon this year in Arab countries which came to be known as the Arab Spring.  In some of the strongest autocratic countries in the world where the government tightly controlled their people and flow of information to the people, through the internet and social networking site, the people rose up, organized, and demanded change.

Most non-profit hospitals and health systems have operated with a system similar in many ways to the autocratic governments in the Middle East. Because they are private non-profit businesses, they are able to operate in secrecy and autonomy. They receive exemption from local property tax, state income and sales tax, and federal taxes. They receive grants from the federal government and are able to solicit and receive

tax exempt donations from the public. They use public finds with minimal disclosure and accountability.

As is the case with Sarah Bush Lincoln Health Center and System and other non-profit healthcare systems in the area, they pick their own board and administrators without input from the public.  They have closed meetings and do not make the minutes available to the public.  They carefully "spin" any news or information from their organization through their well funded media department.

Ths organization is not required to and seemingly does not seek or desire input from the general public. Anyone wanting to communicate with the board must go to great effort to do so and go through an administrator who might or might not communicate their request. (In a 3 hour effort to find board members addresses and e-mails, I was only able to find a handful).

The only information on SBLHC finances and operations must come from the federally mandated Form 990. This report is 18 months old by the time it is available to the public making this information dated and not relevant.  Other requests for information is given a polite response, "Since we are a private non-profit business we are not required to release that information."

This Autocratic Management Style is Condescending to the Public

Autocratic management styles whether governments in the Middle East or in non-profit medical centers in America is condescending to the public.  It is an attitude of "we know, you don't; you are not intelligent enough to understand; you don't really need to know what is going on; we are smarter than you; just do what we say, pay your bills, and we will take care of you; just trust us."

What has this total control over health care in America gotten us?  It is the most costly system in the world, yet ranks way down the list in quality. Healthcare costs are rising twice the rate of inflation and are unaffordable to more and more Americans. The system operates independent of free market principles under which the rest of the economy operates.  It is a national crisis.

An "Arab Spring" in Health Care is Coming

Hospital boards, administrators, and doctors need to wake up and smell the coffee.  The public will only put up with so much. Your power may stifle the traditional media, but the word will get out and people will demand reform.  You can only fool the public so long.

Why not voluntarily open the books to your finances and operations and provide timely and relevant information to the public on the internet?  Why not open your board meetings to the public and publish the minutes for information that does not interfere with privacy laws?  Why not lift the veil of secrecy?

Dr. Don Selvidge

Action for Affordable Healthcare (aah)

Top-Down, Autocratic Management Out of Style

Strength of Indicator response:  0-no/ no response  1- Weak    2. Median  3. Strong

Ask Dr. Gott on Medical Arrogance

Peter Gott, MD on Medical Arrogance

In this morning's newspaper, Dr. Peter Gott who writes the column "Ask Dr. Gott" announced that his column will no longer be available for newspapers, but will only be on his website.  In today's column he reviews what he feels has made his column successful.

"Perhaps part of my success stems from the fact I admit I'm human.  ...I did and still do refer to physicians as being arrogant, pompous, egocentric, and irrationally independent. We pontificate, are self righteous, impatient, and materialistic, have obsessions for fast and expensive cars, believe we are infallible, a step above most people and entitled to fringe benefits and large investment portfolios because of the MD behind our names."

Dr. Gott's description while not true of all MDs and DOs, painfully hits the mark for far too many.  The arrogant attitude described is carried on into the hospitals and medical centers in which they work.

These days most of these organizations are non-profit, and increasingly employ their own doctors. But don't let the word "non-profit" fool you.  These institutions are structured to render maximum income for the doctors and administrators who use tax free offices and equipment paid for by the public. These are usually the most profitable business in an area with the highest paid top employees, the doctors. 

These institutions resist any meaningful disclosure about finances and operations except where forced to by the US government.  They resist public accountability and carefully control information flow allowing only the "spin" by their public relations department to be released. Since they are so powerful, and exert so much influence, no newspaper dares dig deeply into their finances and operations.

In spite of huge profits and back breaking fees, these institutions still arrogantly ask the public to volunteer to run certain programs and make donations so they can buy more equipment and build more buildings. This allows them to charge higher fees and make more tax free money.

Thanks to Dr. Gott who over the years always treated natural remedies sent in by his readers with respect even though they were not the medically "sanctioned" treatment. He admits that he does not know it all and realizes there may be some validity in  alternate remedies. We will miss his column.

More to come,

Dr. Don Selvidge

Action for Affordable Healthcare  (aah)